**Note: This page is for educational inspiration. 'Friendship Month' is a conceptual awareness initiative, often celebrated informally by schools, communities, and individuals to emphasise the value of friendship. It is not tied to a single founding organisation or official website. For broader information on fostering positive relationships and social-emotional development in children, please consult reputable educational or psychological resources.
Understanding Friendship Month in EYFS & KS1
Hooray for friends! Friendship Month is a wonderful, informal initiative often celebrated during September (though sometimes observed in August or February) to shine a spotlight on the importance of building, maintaining, and valuing friendships. While it doesn't have a specific, universally recognized founder or official date, it's a concept embraced by educators and families alike to nurture positive social connections. It's about recognizing the joy and support that friends bring into our lives.
For early years settings, nurseries, preschools, childminders, and Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms, Friendship Month provides a deeply relevant and engaging theme for exploring social skills, emotional development, and relationships. It's about teaching children empathy, communication, sharing, and kindness – essential foundations for healthy friendships. This initiative offers fantastic planning ideas and inspiration for engaging activities that truly resonate with young minds, making learning about social-emotional well-being both practical and heart-warming.
Why Is Teaching About Friendship & Kindness Important for Young Children?
Integrating lessons about friendship and kindness into your practice with young children (aged 0-7) is incredibly important for fostering their social competence, emotional intelligence, and overall well-being. During their early years, children are actively learning how to interact with others, share, resolve conflicts, and form their first meaningful relationships outside the family unit.
Social Development: Learning about friendship helps children develop vital social skills like sharing, taking turns, cooperating, and communicating effectively.
Emotional Intelligence: Exploring feelings related to friendship (joy, sadness, resolving disagreements) helps children understand their own emotions and those of others, building empathy. Our 'Emotions - 'Why Is Teddy Sad?' Activity Pack' and 'Emotions - 'Why Is Teddy Happy?' Activity Pack' are great for this.
Building Community: Fostering a sense of friendship within the setting helps create a supportive, inclusive, and positive learning environment.
Conflict Resolution: Discussions around friendship naturally lead to opportunities to teach children how to navigate disagreements and make amends.
Self-Esteem: Being a good friend and having friends contributes significantly to a child's sense of belonging and self-worth.
Moral Development: Practicing kindness and understanding its impact helps children develop a strong moral compass.
Engaging Friendship & Kindness Activities for Friendship Month (0-7 Year Olds)
Making Friendship Month a truly heartfelt and connected experience is easy with these planning ideas and activities perfect for EYFS and KS1 children. The focus is on connection, empathy, and celebrating the joy of being together! Many of these early years and year 1 activities can be supported by the extensive range of printable resources we have available.
Here's some inspiration for nurturing friendships and kindness in your setting: (Please use your own discretion and knowledge of your children to ensure appropriateness of each activity and safety concerning any materials given and activity undertaken.)
"What Makes a Good Friend?" Discussion: Start conversations about the qualities of a good friend. Use our 'Kindness and Friendship - 'What Makes a Good Friend' Mark Making' sheets for children to draw or write their ideas.
Acts of Kindness Challenges: Encourage daily acts of kindness. Use our 'Acts of Kindness’ Activity and Display' to inspire and track kind deeds. Our 'Lets Show Kindness - Activity Prompt Poster' and 'Lets Show Kindness - Activity Prompt Cards' also offer good starting points.
Friendship Card Making: Provide materials for children to make cards for their friends. Our 'Friendship' Card Templates (Free Sample)' and 'Thank-You For Being My Friend!' Cards' are perfect for this. They can also use 'Thank-You For Being Kind!' Cards'.
"My Lovely Friend" Creative Activities: Encourage children to draw or write about their friends using our 'Kindness and Friendship - 'My Lovely Friend' Mark Making'.
Connecting Activities: Facilitate activities that encourage connection and interaction between children. Our 'Let's Connect - With Each Other - Activity Prompt Poster' and 'Let's Connect - With Each Other - Activity Prompt Cards' provide ideas for this.
Sharing Activities: Emphasize sharing through play. Our 'Beach - Who Will Share This Shell?' can be a fun prompt for discussing sharing and fairness.
Emotional Literacy with Teddy: Explore emotions related to friendships. Our 'Emotions - 'Why Is Teddy Sad?' Activity Pack' and 'Emotions - 'Why Is Teddy Happy?' Activity Pack' can help children understand and express feelings.
Picnic for Friends: Organize a pretend or real picnic. Use our 'Outdoor Picnic Area - 'At Our Picnic We...' Display' to discuss what friends do together at a picnic.
Kindness Display & Awards: Create a "Kindness Corner" display. Use our 'Kindness and Friendship - Display Certificates/Notes' and 'Kind To Me' Display Certificates/Notes' to celebrate acts of kindness and good friendships. The 'Fairies - Friendship Fairy (award sheets)' can add a magical touch. Our 'Be The Reason Someone Smiles Poster' is a great visual reminder.
Drawing/Writing About Kindness: Provide sheets for children to reflect on acts of kindness they've seen or done using 'Acts of Kindness’ Mark Making/Drawing/Writing A4 Sheet'.
Planning Support: Don't forget to check out our 'Planning - Topic Plan Ideas - Animals' and 'Planning - Topic Plan Ideas - Pets' as these topics often involve discussions about caring for others, which links to empathy and kindness.
These activities offer great inspiration for making Friendship Month a memorable and impactful experience in your early years and Key Stage One setting, fostering positive social skills, empathy, and the joy of connection.
To explore ideas surrounding additional early years events, please visit our 'Special Dates Calendar' page.
Printable resources to support teaching & learning surrounding: ‘Friendship Month’
Additional Pages you may like to explore which cover relevant &/or Connected themes
More Early Years Event Pages for September
Explore special dates (including awareness dates, festivals, celebrations & events) relevant to your EYFS & KS1 children
Browse our ‘Special Dates Calendar’ page using the link below. You’ll find calendars for every month of the year to aid your planning!
SEARCH ‘LITTLE OWLS Resources’ USING THE FOLLOWING MENU BUTTONS…
Disclaimer:
This page is for educational purposes only and is intended to support early years and primary practitioners with ideas and resources related to 'Friendship Month'. 'Friendship Month' is a conceptual awareness initiative, often celebrated informally by schools, communities, and individuals to emphasise the value of friendship. It is not tied to a single founding organisation or official website. We do not claim any rights to specific trademarks or official materials associated with this initiative. For broader information on fostering positive relationships and social-emotional development in children, please consult reputable educational or psychological resources.
Time to get cosy with a book! 📚📖 National Read a Book Day is an unofficial observance, primarily celebrated in the United States, annually on September 6th. Its simple yet powerful…